1. Field of Disclosure
The present disclosure generally relates to a media search and retrieval system, and, more particularly, to systems and methods for rapid retrieval of searched media files that uses a first database containing suggested search terms and associated pointers to media files in a second database for autocompleting user requests.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Grid image design is a complex problem for creation of web pages across browsers. One fundamental problem in designing an image grid is that most web interface display systems are designed for displaying a text file. These display systems, often process images files and text files in the same manner. For example, when an image is displayed by default in line with the text, the existing display systems often leave a blank line or space at the bottom for descendenders (such as found in the letters “j,” “g,” and “y”), even though, typically, an image will not have the abovementioned blank lines. Although some browsers account for this situation, the practice of taking into account the differences between displaying a text file and an image file is still not a standard practice in the industry. Several other technical issues may arise while displaying images on the web interfaces. Among them are having an asymmetrical balance while displaying images of different sizes on a single page, a decrease in latency of image display by the user, causing simultaneous display of multiple images, incorporating the thumbnail generation technology in displaying images, optimization of space in an image grid gallery and maintenance of consistency of visual hierarchy across devices and browsers. These technical issues are discussed in detail below.
The technique of asymmetrical display layout involves evenly distributing image elements within a grid format, which may involve balancing a large photograph with several small photographs. Uneven elements often present several potential possibilities for arranging the elements on the page and creating interesting layout designs rather than displaying a page containing a layout of perfectly symmetrical objects. Asymmetrical layouts are generally more dynamic, and by intentionally ignoring balance, the designer can create tension, express movement, or convey a mood such as anger, excitement, joy, or casual amusement. There inevitably is a certain latency time between the times the user enters a command by way of an I/O device (e.g. keyboard, IR remote control unit) to view a selected image, and the time when the selected image actually appears on the display screen. This latency time is largely due to the time required for locating the image data, reading the image data, and then loading the read-out image data into the image memory or in the client system display. Typically, this latency time could be as much as 1 to 4 seconds, or long enough to be noticeable and inconvenient to the user. It would be desirable to minimize this latency time, such that the latency time is barely noticeable to the user.
Some user interface applications of image display systems involve displaying multiple images, for instance for side-by-side comparison. For instance, medical imaging applications and slide presentations are two applications in which the display of two or more images in a side-by-side format can be useful. Also, consumers may want to compare images side-by-side, for instance, to select a preferred one of several portrait photos of the same person. In addition, users may wish to browse through a large library of images to select a plurality of images for display and download.
Although similarity-based visualization can help users find the right image quickly, especially for web images search results, some hurdles still need to be crossed in order to enable users to really enjoy the instantaneous and seamless display of the searched images. One problem in using similarity-based image visualization technique is difficulty in identifying an effective tool to measure the similarity between two images. Another problem is information loss caused by image down-sampling when an attempt is made to place more images on a single screen. Accordingly, a better thumbnail generation technology, other than directly down-sampling the searched images is needed to efficiently use the user interface space to effectively display the searched images.
There are several software image grid galleries that support dynamic width and height images. Among software packages that support these image galleries are jQuery Masonry, Tympanus Automatic Image Montage and CSS-Tricks Seamless Responsive Photo Grid, but each software package has limitations. For example, Jquery Masonry allows for both width and height to be dynamic, but generates gaps between images. While the remaining software packages create aesthetically pleasing grids, these software packages hold either image width or image height as a static variable. Masonry is a dynamic grid layout plugin for jQuery, which can be considered as the flip-side of CSS floats. The CSS floating method arranges image elements horizontally on the user interface, before arranging the image elements vertically on the user interface. However, Masonry method arranges image elements vertically, positioning each image element in the next open spot in the grid. The resulting arrangement of image elements on the user interface minimizes vertical gaps between image elements of varying height, like a mason fitting stones in in a horizontal line on a wall.
The software package Isotope supporting dynamic visual sorting of images of chemical isotopes in a grid overcomes some of these limitations. However, Isotope does not support packing of images of different orientations together without gaps or reordering.
The first step in image management is to set max-width to 100% and let the height of the image adjust, which simultaneously maintains the aspect ratio of the image. This, however, may introduce problems with maintaining the image hierarchy. For example, when a width aspect ratio of a banner image is squeezed down to fit a narrow column, the resulting image loses its previously designated position in the visual hierarchy of the page upon which the banner image is displayed. Thus, normally smaller inline images may appear larger, which in turn may result in inverting the visual hierarchy of the page. Because adaptability is based on the image width, horizontal images may require more scaling than vertical images. This can lead to a problem where scale between images can change. A horizontal image that is larger and more dominant in the visual hierarchy of the page displayed on a wide screen browser, may very well end up being displayed as a smaller and less dominant image on the narrow screen of a mobile device.
Both U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,200,039 B2 and 8,224,119 B2 teach stitching images together to form a mosaic or collage format displayed in a grid. U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,717 B1 teaches generating thumbnail images from rich content, where the thumbnail images can be combined in the form of a collage. U.S. Pat. No. 7,917,859 teaches generation of a photo collage and using weighted values associated with thumbnail images to rank relevancy of thumbnail images. U.S. Pat. No. 8,144,995 B2 teaches display of searched images in a grid format which has an appearance of a mosaic or collage. U.S. Pat. No. 7,797,377 B2 teaches a system for displaying a product associated with a media object such as image file, an audio file, and a video file, where the system is integrated with the user's preferences for the product. The patent further teaches an automatic display of a collage or mosaic display. U.S. Pat. No. 6,901,378 B1 teaches a collage or mosaic display of thumbnail photos based on a search and retrieval of relevant images based on metadata while integrating users' preferences for the product.
US 2010/0277754 A1 discloses an apparatus for generating a mosaic image, where a single image is obtained and segmented into a plurality of blocks according to density values for the basic colors. US 2012/0054649 A1 discloses a method and system for displaying images in a mosaic or collage format along a grid. US 2009/0064029 A1 discloses a method for displaying multiple digital objects such as images displayed in a matrix and scored on the matrix based o relevancy, and the more relevant images are located centrally to a viewer and the less relevant ones are located spatially outward. US 2008/0205789 A1 discloses a method for providing photo collage where one embodiment is displayed in tiles. The display is dynamic using digital frames where the photo is changed based on the user input. US 2011/0074824 A1 discloses a display of images in a mosaic or collage where the image's aspect ratio is preserved. U.S. Pat. No. 8,078,969 B2 discloses a method for manipulation of image dimensions by the user in the image receiving area for displaying images in a collage format. U.S. Pat. No. 7,735,007 teaches methods for adding a removal of white spaces from a document as images are added to the document, by growing and shrinking the electronic page size.
However, the aforementioned patents fail to fit together as many large images as possible in a browser window without disrupting the order of images resulting for various types of image sorts. Images are displayed as search results in the disclosed method, like any other search results, images may also be sorted by relevance, popularity, etc. Resultantly, a user can view an interface displaying more image pixels and displaying images with fewer gaps between the images. The disclosed method is compatible with various image sorting methods. For example, the disclosed method may support sorting methods including but not limited to the popular sort, relevancy sort, sort displaying newly searched images, and random sort, etc.